Meditation for Beginners. "De-stressercises" for modern life

Have you ever heard the saying, "Out of sight, out of mind"? Well, it's complete and utter BS, and I curse the person who said it with incurable crabs. In fact, I would argue that much of the time, the things we cannot see occupy MORE mind space than those we can. The what-ifs, the worries, feelings of inadequacy, fear of failure, anticipation, PTSD, or any other trauma, whether ongoing or in the past, clouds our minds and pulls us away from being present. This is why meditation is so difficult for people because when we stop and close our eyes, all of the out-of-sight stuff takes center stage.

 

The biggest misconception about meditation is that it is a state of inert and unoccupied thought. In fact, it couldn't be further from the truth. A mind that is meditating is a mind fully occupied with sensory information being gathered in the moment from all 5 senses. Some call this awareness. Awareness is the key to meditation, but opening all 5 channels at once takes practice, so start with one at a time and don't worry about the environment in which you practice. You can perform these exercises almost anywhere.

 

Sight

• Set yourself a timer for 2-5 minutes.
• Pick up an object that interests you. It could be something as simple as a baseball.
• Study it as if you are going to have to draw it from memory. Every scratch, every imperfection, color nuance, shading, lighting, form, and size. Are any of the stitches frayed? Notice the contrast of the red on white.
• Really try to photograph your object in your mind.
• Imagine the story behind the object. Where had it been? What left that smudge? Etc.

Do this every day with a different object until you feel that you are able to maintain focus for the duration of your practice.

Once it becomes easier to keep your attention focused on the visual details of an object, move on to touch.

 

Touch:

• Use the same or different objects from your sight exercise. This time close your eyes and see with your hands.
• Notice the firmness of the baseball, count the stitches with your fingertips, notice any indents in the surface, and imagine the home run swing that made it.
• The organ that feels touch isn’t just in our fingers, however. Notice how your clothing feels against your skin, the weight of your body being pulled down to the ground, air temperature and movement, and scan your body for places where you are holding tension.

 

Sound:

• Whether in a whisper room or on a New York subway train, you can train your mind to expand its aural awareness by fully occupying it with sounds.
• The tick of a clock, the keys of your coworker's keyboard, the blend of voices in a busy restaurant, the sound of distant cars passing by.
• Notice every detail but try to give all of the sounds you are hearing an equal amount of attention all at the same time.
• Imagine you're in a 360-degree soundstage. Follow moving objects with your ears. Listen to the pitch and timbre of the sounds and build an image in your mind with this aural data.

 

Taste and Smell:

I’m grouping these together.

Some would argue that neither taste nor smell has anything to do with meditation. Anyone who has tried an aromatic sip of Chateauneuf-du-Pape with a perfectly prepared dish would disagree. You don’t have to buy a $300 bottle of wine to explore the nuances of taste and smell, however. You can pick apart the flavor/scent profile of anything from a mushroom to a Coca-Cola. Just commit to focusing on it.

 

And throughout the day, remember to BREATHE. Deep, diaphragmatic box-breathing directly calms our sympathetic nervous system the same way hyperventilation excites it. Check in with your breathing periodically throughout the day.

And of course, remember to have a

Quality Day!

MBM